Tesla has been pushing the use of software updates, and especially over-the-air software updates, like never before in the automotive industry. Other automakers have been held back by their dependence on third-party dealerships who want to retain their monopoly on servicing vehicles, which is threatened by over-the-air software updates.

It will be more difficult to stop this progress in the near future, especially with the advent of autonomous driving, and Tesla’s full list of new features enabled with software updates gives us a glimpse at what it can do.

Beyond the issue with dealerships, the ability to remotely alter code in a vehicle has often been seen as too risky in the automotive world and an approach better left to the mobile industry.

Tesla has been pushing new features through over-the-air software updates ever since the introduction of the Model S in 2012. At first, it was only for UI changes and customer experience features, but things got more interesting when it moved to the Autopilot.

In order to make things more secure when introducing the first major Autopilot (7.0) in 2015, Tesla partnered with Red Bend Software, whose Smart Delta technology allows to replace the code instead of replacing the entire file. Adding major capability through OTA updates has been a major selling point for Tesla ever since.

Several more automakers have since announced that they will make OTA updates a more important part of their customer experience. For example, Nissan teamed up with Microsoft last year to offer the service in its vehicles by the end of the decade.

Here are a few examples of release notes from Tesla when it releases a new update:

Dealing with the updates on an update-to-update basis, owners often find themselves disappointed by the updates because maybe it didn’t include the feature they were hoping for, but it’s different when taking some perspective and looking at the entire list of updates that Tesla introduced.

A Redditor on /r/teslamotors put together a full comprehensive list to help “visualize the amount of features added by Tesla” through software updates for the pre-Autopilot and first gen Autopilot cars..

The added features vary from the simple UI changes, like the addition of a button, which might seem mild, but it is still unique in the auto industry before Tesla or Apple Car/Android Auto, to the widely reported updates to Tesla’s Autopilot system. Here’s the full list:

Date

SW Update Version

Feature Description

9/23/2012

1.9.11

Added projected and rated range

Added Entry / Exit feature – Displays on and Media auto play for entry and decrease volume upon exit

10/9/2012

1.13.16

Added Driver profiles (up to 10 can be saved)

Added Creep mode (emulate automatic transmission idle forward)

Added Traffic lines in map

Added higher volume granularity

Added Lock and Unlock touch screen buttons separated for ease of use

Added Mobile App Remote Access

11/30/2012

1.15.14

Added cancel button to nav

11/30/2012

1.17.5

Added Vehicle sleep mode (reduced vampire drain)

Added App launcher

Added voice commands

Added auto present door handles

Added vehicle alarm

Added ability to switch between metric and imperial units

Added range mode

Added USB sorting for media

Added ability to call phone numbers from map screen

Added fan speed and sunroof controls to steering wheel controls

Added location aware homelink

3/13/2013

1.19.35

Added scheduled charging mode

6/7/2013

1.31.48

Added supercharger locations to maps

Added visited chargers to maps

Added battery charge limit slider (Standard and Max Range)

6/20/2013

1.33.61

Added contact sorting options

Added new defrost mode

Added battery support (will draw power from wall instead of battery for HVAC)